More than 70,000 Be Cruelty-Free Petitioners Support India’s Proposed Import Ban on Animal Tested Cosmetics

Banning the import of newly animal tested cosmetics will help consumers make a compassionate choice. HSI

NEW DELHI - Humane Society International/India’s Be Cruelty Free campaign submitted a petition signed by more than 70,000 people, supporting the proposed import ban on cosmetics tested on animals abroad. The petition was presented at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare by ‘Chulbuli’, HSI’s Be Cruelty-Free India rabbit mascot, on behalf of the estimated half a million animals who suffer and die in cosmetics tests worldwide. ‘Chulbuli’ and HSI campaigners thanked the Ministry for its compassionate proposal to make India a cruelty-free cosmetics zone.

Alokparna Sengupta, HSI/India’s Be Cruelty-Free campaign manager, said: “We are thrilled to have collected so many signatures. This level of support demonstrates how much consumers from across India and beyond want to end cosmetics cruelty and shop compassionately, knowing that no animal has suffered for their beauty products. Thanks to our Health Ministry and the Drug Controller General, India has already banned cosmetics animal testing in our laboratories, but an import ban will make India truly cruelty-free. We hope that our 70,000 petition signatures will encourage the Ministry to finalize the ban as soon as possible”

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued a draft proposal earlier last month to end the import of cosmetics newly tested on animals abroad. The proposal has been open for a 45 day public consultation period.

Banning the import of newly animal tested cosmetics will help consumers make a compassionate choice thereby fulfilling the fundamental duty, requiring every citizen to be compassionate towards every living creature, as enshrined in the Constitution of India. It would position India ahead of other “BRICS” nations, and indeed most western nations, in the area of ethical consumerism.

Humane Society International’s Be Cruelty-Free campaign is very close to ending animal cosmetic testing in Brazil and is working to achieve similar legislations passed across North America, East Asia, Russia, and beyond.

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